Congress Announces Second List Of 17 Candidates For Madhya Pradesh Polls

Madhya Pradesh Congress on Sunday announced its second list of 17 candidates for elections to the 230-member state assembly, slated for November 28.

Since Saturday, the party has declared names of 172 candidates. Of the 17, four candidates are for reserved seats.

The names of Congress state unit chief Kamal Nath and poll campaign committee in-charge Jyotiradtiya Scindia are not on the list. They are being seen as frontrunners for the Chief Minister's post if the party wins.

The first list of 155 names was released late Saturday night and it includes that of 21 women and 24 fresh faces. The party has struck a fine balance between supporters of Mr Scindia and former chief minister Digvijay Singh.

The party renominated 46 MLAs. Former chief minister Digvijay Singh's son Jaivardhan, a sitting MLA, brother Lakshman Singh and nephew Priyavrat Singh have been given tickets.

Similarly, Scindia loyalists Hemant Katare and KK Singh have been nominated from Ater and Jaora seats respectively.

Congress is expected to announce the remaining candidates shortly, a party leader said.

The BJP stole a march on the Congress Friday by releasing its first list of 177 candidates for the assembly polls, fielding Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni seat.